15 Opinionated Gamers enter, 1 expansion wins.  What is the best board game expansion ever?  It’s time to find out.

Adam, Alison, Ben, Craig, Doug, Fraser, Joe, Jonathan, Larry, Mark, Matt, RJ, Ryan, Steph, and Talia voted on their favorite expansions of all time.  There were 82 different expansions that received votes, but only 20 can emerge victorious as our collective Top 20 expansions.

Do your favorite expansions appear on our list below?  If not, what are your favorites and why?  Most of the expansions that I voted for did not make the cut, but it’s still a fascinating list with some obvious picks and some definite head-scratchers.  So come with us on this journey through the aggregate favorites of this motley crew.

20) Dominion: Prosperity and Terraforming Mars: Colonies [**TIE**]

Tied in 20th place we have Dominion Prosperity from 2010 and Terraforming Mars: Colonies from 2018.  Both of these received votes from four people, including a bronze medal for Dominion: Prosperity from Matt, and a bronze medal for Terraforming Mars: Colonies from Fraser.  Neither of these appeared on my list.  I was too busy being the only person to vote for Root: Riverfolk, which adds the joyous lizards and crafty otters.  The OG has previously published A Guided Tour of Expanding Mars, where I talked about my enjoyment of Colonies, and we compiled How Do You Terraform about the many approaches and philosophies to experiencing that game, so it’s clearly a topic of interest to many OG members, but to put these in the Top 20 of all-time came as a surprise to me personally.

19) 7 Wonders: Armada

19th place goes to 7 Wonders: Armada from 2018, but the last time that I played 7 Wonders was in 2011, long before this so-called Armada was released.  Armada received a bronze medal from Steph, so you’ll have to ask her why it’s better than my beloved Neuroshima Hex: Dancer expansion, which was another expansion that no one else besides me voted for.  The Dancer faction creates such fascinating and compelling decision-making points both for the player controlling this brilliant expansion and for the player fighting back against this bizarre triad of foes. What came in 18th? Keep reading to find out!

• Mark Jackson: I voted for 7 Wonders: Cities (my favorite of the expansions), but Armada is a close second. A note for long-time players: I own but seldom play Leaders with my first edition set, due to the difficulties of the icons in the initial draft. The second edition cures that with better iconography AND the inclusion of multiple player aids in each expansion to assist players.
• RJ Garrison:  Funny thing — I voted for 7 Wonders: Leaders (my favorite of the expansions), and own Armada (still in shrink after all these years) and Cities, which I’ve played a couple times.  I had Babylon, but it just made the game convoluted, so gifted it to one of my poor, unsuspecting gamer friends.

18) 2038 Expansion

18th place is awarded to the 2038 expansion, which received a bronze medal from Adam and an honorable mention from Joe.

• Joe Huber: So – I fear that this and the next entries are the result of letting someone who doesn’t like expansions vote on expansions.  I rate expansions on a -9 to +9 (theoretical; -8 to +2 de facto) scale based upon how an expansion changes my rating from the base game.  There are only two expansions I rate positively in practice – and this isn’t one of them.  But, like all of the expansions I listed, it’s one which I rate a 0 — which, for an expansion, is actually pretty high praise from me. The 2038 expansion adds two new corporations, each of some interest, adds a number of ships, changing the flow of the game, and significantly changes the start of the game, adding more money.  All of this makes for a game which does handle five players better in my opinion, and which doesn’t add to the length of the game, but which does make the middle game feel a little slow because of the extra ships.  On the whole, I’m always happy to play 2038 with or without the expansion; I have friends who always prefer to play with it, so I do so more often than not.
• Adam Kramer: Agree with Joe on this one. It definitely opens up the flow of the game with mostly positive benefits. The start of the game benefits the most as you aren’t locked to fixed openings. Plus, how many expansions are there for 18xx games and how many are set in space? This does a remarkable job at both.

17) Advanced Civilization

Advanced Civilization is the 17th best expansion of all-time according to the collective votes of 15 Opinionated Gamers.  We don’t set any rules for these things, so it’s a bit of a free-for-all, and Joe gave this one a silver medal, along with an honorable mention from Fraser.

• Joe: Advanced Civilization is one of the two expansions I give a positive (+1) rating to.  I know a number of folks prefer the original, but recent plays of Civilization, while still wonderful, mostly made me wish I was playing Advanced Civilization instead.  I find the limits on civilization cards in the original not of great interest, and the wider variety of catastrophes and trade goods in Advanced adds significantly to the game.

15) Ark Nova: Marine Worlds and A Feast for Odin: The Norwegians [**TIE**]

What do Ark Nova: Marine Worlds and A Feast for Odin: The Norwegians have in common?  They are tied for 15th place, and they each received four total votes, including one gold medal each.  Jonathan’s gold medal went to the Ark Nova expansion, and Steph’s gold medal to the Feast for Odin expansion.  And here I thought this would be an exercise in crowning Through the Ages: New Leaders and Wonders as the best expansion of all-time with an interesting run-off for second place, but it turns out no one else gave that gem a gold after all.

• Larry Levy: I play very few expansions.  Basically, if a game is good, it doesn’t need an expansion and if it needs an expansion to make it good, I probably didn’t play the base game, so that leaves very little to work from.  Pretty much the only cases are very good games which, unusually, are actually improved by their expansions and which, even more unusually, I’ve actually bothered to try.  Ark Nova: Marine Worlds is one of those rare cases.  It certainly isn’t an essential expansion, as Ark Nova is a terrific game, at least when played with 2 players.  But the vast majority of my Ark Nova games are online ones and when they launched the Marine Worlds expansion, we figured we’d give it a try and I do think it makes the game a bit better.  Having upgraded versions of the Action cards, and having different ones available each game, adds to the variety.  The sea creatures are nice and some of the other additional features are good ones, even though they don’t affect play tremendously.  It doesn’t represent too much of an upgrade, but it does make the game better and when you play as few expansions as I do, that was enough to earn it a fourth-place vote.

• Jonathan Franklin: I love the base game and secretly had hoped this would be the AN-equivalent of Prelude for Terraforming Mars. Thus I came in with slightly diminished expectations. I found myself greatly enjoying the special power cards that are drafted at the start and replace two of the base cards. I also liked the tension that the cards in the center could be gone at any moment. I can see that some might not like this, but for us it added that bit of tension that was not there when you knew it would survive until the break.  I have too many expansions and many don’t add that much, but I like many of the things they did with this one. As a note based on Larry’s comment below, I rated the expansions as ‘what would I rate the game with the expansion?’ Since I already rate Ark Nova highly and find the expansion improves it, that is why it was my gold medal winner. Yes, I could have voted for an expansion that turns a 6 base game into an 8 with the expansion, but where is the fun in that (Railroad Evolution, looking at you).

14) Orleans: Trade & Intrigue

The coveted fourteenth slot goes to Orleans: Trade & Intrigue, which snagged a gold medal from Ben, plus a bronze medal from RJ.

• Ben Bruckart: Orleans is a family favorite. The base bag building concept is very well refined and the game is presented as both simple to play and inviting to non-gamers (colorful, fun). Orleans came out with the Invasion expansion first which had more scenario play and solo variants and that was more of a change on the original play than improving an already enjoyable game. Trade & Intrigue came out in 2016 and was met with wild acclaim. It allowed for order cards to be included (which allowed for different map play), New Events that changed up the pace of how each round went, and the New Beneficial Deeds board that made the mid-late game timing more important. The Intrigue board is rarely played here as it ruins the harmony amongst players and introduces too many take-that elements. As a completionist gamer, I enjoyed collecting all the different level 1 and level 2 buildings from Trade & Intrigue. This is one of our family’s most played games, and we always play with the New Beneficial Deeds board.

• RJ: I bought Trade & Intrigue specifically for the Deeds board, and prefer to play base Orleans with the expansion board due to the better variety of choices that the Deeds grant you.  It bumps the game from an already great game to just a little bit better.

13) Xia: Embers of a Forsaken Star

In 13th place, you’ll find Xia: Embers of a Forsaken Star, which just edged out Orleans.  Xia nabbed Mark Jackson’s gold medal, along with Jonathan’s bronze medal.  Dodge icy comets, mine relics, and buy new ship parts in this expansion for Xia…

• Jonathan: Xia is a wild ride and if you go in wanting to win it, it might not be the game for you. It is far more memorable to blind explore into a sun than to diligently ply your trade between a synergistic set of planets making a bit of coin with each transaction. At the same time, the base game has some largish warts that were solved with this expansion.  Yes, it is still a dicey experience game of being whomever you want to be with a ship and a dream, but Embers spiffed it all up and is an excellent patch expansion.  The major buffs are more sectors, and I’ll specifically call out the economy board, event cards, and improved relic tokens that replace the originals (very important). For those who care, this is the expansion that added the solo mode, which is pretty reasonable in a game that can take up to 75 minutes per player. Most notably, it also improved the rules.

• Mark: I cannot imagine playing without Embers… and since the majority of my plays of Xia have been solo, it’s even more necessary. Honestly, Xia is a game that benefits from “more” — more solar system to explore, more crazy events, and more options to choose from in outfitting your ship. It also benefits from the more coherent trade system as well as some helpful rules tweaking. Like I said, won’t play without it.

12) Through the Ages: New Leaders and Wonders

Finally, we get to one that I voted for, in fact my gold medal expansion.  With a silver medal from the always wise Craig, Through the Ages: New Leaders and Wonders manages a decent, yet disappointing, 12th place finish in this race.

Personally, I played Through the Ages dozens of times before the expansion, and I never thought it could be expanded.  And then Vlaada worked his magic, and came up with an expansion that is truly brilliant.  The expansion does not simply add to an already full game, but rather mixes things up in the cleverest of ways that make each game a uniquely fun and fascinating experience.  For me, New Leaders and Wonders transcends the traditional bounds of an expansion and has elevated the underlying game in ways that I never could have imagined.  The mix of leaders and wonders present in any given game, known from the outset, gives each experience a feeling of exploration and discovery, even after well over 100 plays.  This is the expansion that all designers should study when contemplating how to expand their games.

11) Spirit Island: Jagged Earth + Branch & Claw

On the other end of the spectrum is Spirit Island, which is a game that I adore, but an expansion that I abhor.  I’m truly befuddled by the event deck in Branch & Claw, and how it can be enjoyed, given how it disrupts the core puzzle experience of Spirit Island.  That being said, this combo of expansions received a gold medal from Matt and a silver medal from Alison, just edging out the utter brilliance of Through the Ages for 11th place.

• Alison Brennan: I only ever play two-player so these added exponentially more character combinations to explore and master. Event decks in co-ops need to be non-decisive by definition, but event decks in co-ops add to the drama and emphasises immersion in the theme. If you’re cruising comfortably, a bad event elevates the challenge. If you’re struggling, a great event is a heart-lifting wellspring of hope. I wouldn’t label myself a drama queen exactly … but I wouldn’t play without it.

10) Hansa Teutonica maps (East + Britannia)

The maps for Hansa Teutonica did not receive any golds, silvers, or bronzes, but they did receive 5 honorable mentions each, which was enough to secure them a coveted spot in the Opinionated Gamers Top 10 Expansions of All-Time.  I awarded an honorable mention to the East Expansion because it was definitely a breath of fresh air after many plays of the original map, and the various twists and turns introduced in the East map really did a nice job of modifying the core system in minimalistic yet engaging ways.

• Larry: Hansa Teutonica is a game I’m reasonably happy to play, but I don’t love it like the members of my old game group did.  I’ve only played the Britannia map once, but for some reason, I seemed to see the successful strategies better than I did with the original game.  Or maybe it’s just that it was as unfamiliar to the rest of the players as it was to me and I did a better job of coming up with a competent strategy.  Either way, I liked it a bit more than base Hansa Teutonica, making it one of the few expansions I could give a positive score to.

• Ben: Hansa Teutonica is another one of those gateway-esque games to me. Simple mechanics, and the teach is about 15 minutes. The base rulebook is solid but it really didn’t play well with two-player until the East and Britannia maps introduced some third-player robot mechanics. I have played far more East than Britannia, but I really enjoy both.

9) Dune Imperium: Rise of Ix

In 9th place is the essential 2022 expansion for Dune Imperium that received a bronze medal from Doug, along with honorable mentions from Alison and Jonathan.  While I didn’t vote for this expansion, partly because it fixes underlying issues with the original game, I do think it’s an essential expansion to use because of the way that it makes the role of spice much more interesting and opens up the decision-making space around how to earn and spend the game’s various currencies.

8) Underwater Cities: New Discoveries

Underwater Cities: New Discoveries from 2019 by Vladimír Suchý earns the #8 spot with a bronze medal from Ryan, plus several honorable mentions.

• Ryan Post: Imagine if Terraforming Mars: Prelude and Hellas & Elysium were sold together, but also added more cards to the deck and dual-layer player boards to replace the terrible base game boards. That is what New Discoveries does for Underwater Cities — a truly standout expansion. It only placed 3rd for me, because Underwater Cities was already a great game in base form; this is just a solid value add. My top 2 votes were for expansions that either fixed or totally changed the game. If I had one critique, I don’t think the museum module is super well-received — most people I play with would prefer to play one of the other boards. 

7) Barrage: The Nile Affair

Simone Luciani and Tommaso Battista find their way into the Top Ten with Barrage: The Nile Affair, which snagged a silver medal from Adam, plus honorable mentions from Larry and Ben.  If only Larry hadn’t thrown away his silver medal on a Bohnanza expansion, perhaps his beloved Luciani could have cracked the Top Five.  Either way, I’m left wishing that Living Forest: Kodama or the Summoner Wars: Filth Faction had received any votes besides my own, alas.

• Adam: Just a nice, clean expansion that opens things up a bit and adds variety. The base game can get a bit repetitive with everyone basically going for the same things. This expansion changes that but doesn’t loosen up the interaction that makes the game interesting.

• Ben: I love Barrage. Love it! So when the Nile Affair expansion was introduced, I was excited to see how it changed the game. It allows dams to bleed water into locations where random tiles placed at startup could be used to make improvements. It also introduced a lot more water into the game. The twist of the game did not take away from any of the cutthroatness and importance of location and timing. Since I am normally teaching the base game to new players, I don’t get to play with it as much as I want, but I do enjoy it.

• Larry: I only gave this a fifth place vote because the base game of Barrage is so incredibly awesome, probably my favorite game of the past 10 years.  So it’s not like it needs an expansion.  Still, I was amazed to discover that The Nile Affair made a terrific game even better!  The choices were really interesting and the inclusion of a bit more water opened things up a bit.  I’ve only played it the one time (another reason I didn’t rank it a bit higher), and even though I will always, always, always play any version of Barrage, I think this might actually be the best version of it.  Luciani really is a gaming god!

6) Lost Ruins of Arnak: Expedition Leaders

We love our asymmetry, and it shows with the sixth place finish for Expedition Leaders, which received a bevy of honorable mentions, plus a coveted gold medal from Ryan.  This expansion really does create a fascinating decision space and a level of replayability that makes Arnak a true gem and one of the most acclaimed worker placement games of the decade.  I’ve been impressed with the balance among these highly divergent leaders, at least based on my 13 plays of the expansion (which admittedly is only a small fraction of my 61 plays of the underlying game).

• Ryan: I wrote a rather positive review for the 2nd expansion of Arnak, but the first expansion is the real expansion MVP for me. Leaders fundamentally change the game, in the best way possible. The asymmetric starting decks/abilities feel like the big piece the original game was missing. A minor issue I had with the base game were the temples. I prefer the snake side’s location costs, so I can’t play bird temple with that board side. For my group, the expansion ups temples from 1 to 3, which is huge. Then add more cards, more monster varieties, more locations, and more assistants, and you are just layering good variety value on top! Hell, even the red staff that changes the display discard rules was a great touch that my group always uses, and it’s often forgotten as there is so much else in this expansion. Arnak was a pretty good base game, but now it’s a top 10 game for me, and I would not want to ever go back to playing without this expansion.

5) Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm

Entering the Final Five, we find this 2008 expansion to the Tom Lehmann classic, which received love from Joe, Jonathan, Alison, and Ben.  Personally, I prefer Roll for the Galaxy every time, but I’m not sure how to explain or rationalize that preference honestly.  Maybe it’s just the tactile experience of all those dice banging around in that plastic cup…

• Mark: I love Race for the Galaxy in pretty much all its forms (except takeovers) – it’s been the #2 game on my “top 100” list for a number of years. (We’ll talk about #1 at the very end of this article.) Here’s the problem: there are five current boxed expansions + the New Worlds card pack and another expansion on the way… and while I prefer the first story arc (Gathering Storm/Rebel vs. Imperium/The Brink of War), I’m hard-pressed to choose a single expansion to represent all of them.

• Jonathan: I did not love the first Xenos, but am excited to try the new Xeno expansions. I did not love prestige or takeovers.  That leaves Gathering Storm and Alien Artifacts. The inclusion of the not so fun Alien Artifacts exploration modules did not hurt it and it is often my go to, but Gathering Storm was the first expansion and filled out the base game that showed the potential of the system beyond the base. Would play any time, and I wanted a RftG expansion to show up on this list even if I cannot produce/consume to save my life.

• Alison: I actually don’t play RftG much these days, but I remember back in the day that once the expansion with goals came out, that was the only way we wanted to play. The race to complete them added just the right amount of interaction to make for far more socially interesting decisions. 

4) Carcassonne: Inns & Cathedrals

This 2002 expansion for Carcassonne landed in 4th place with the only trifecta: a gold medal (Doug), a silver medal (Fraser), and a bronze medal (Larry), plus some honorable mentions.  I gave my bronze medal to Carcassonne: Traders & Builders from 2003 because I think the builder unit is much more interesting than the “big meeple” unit, although I almost always play with both expansions because both of those units elevate the game significantly.  I wrote about how important Traders & Builders is way back in 2006 in fact.

• Larry:  I gave Inns & Cathedrals my third place vote because it’s pretty much the de facto way of playing Carc–I can’t remember the last time I saw anyone play without it (although I guess that means I haven’t seen Joe play).  The inns and the cathedrals both add a nice calculated gambling aspect to the play.  The big meeple is a very good addition.  This does what a good expansion should do–improves the play without dramatically changing the nature of the game.  Really, the only downside of it is that it lets you play Carc with as many as six players; I’m pretty sure I’d rather undergo back-to-back root canals than have to play the game like that!

• Joe: This is a good example of why I don’t care for expansions.  It’s not bad per se, but I was losing interest in Carcassonne until I stripped out all of the expansions and started playing the original game again.  This was the last expansion I did take out, and I don’t mind it too much — but the game is still better for me without it.

3)  Russian Railroads: German Railroads

Third place goes to Russian Railroads: German Railroads, which is not a confusing title at all.  This expansion got 7 votes from the 15 people, including a bronze medal from Ben.  It’s no one’s favorite, but it seems to be widely beloved (except not by me, who played Russian Railroads once and vowed never to experience this kitchen sink point salad again).  Ever since my beloved Dominant Species “won” the Opinionated Gamers Top 20 Popular Games that are “Not for Me,” I’ve known I was a bit out of step with my compatriots, but nonetheless, I’ll keep voting for the likes of War of the Ring: Lords of Middle-Earth and Galaxy Trucker: The Big Expansion, and hoping someday they come around.

• Ben: The original Russian Railroads was like a mathematics lesson. A very enjoyable one. When teaching the game to new players, the first turn might score you about 3 points, whereas the final turn might be upwards of 100-150 points. The best thing about Russian Railroads is the incredibly rewarding scaling of the game. German Railroads adds more modular play that lets you change how you want to scale and take more risk for reward choices. The turns became more enjoyable with more choice while the addition of coal added for deeper and more diverse gameplay. Strong recommend.

2) Concordia: Salsa

In second place, albeit distantly to our ultimate champion, is Concordia: Salsa, which received a gold medal from RJ, a bronze medal from Craig, and a whole host of honorable mentions.  Apparently, you can add spice to Concordia with this 2015 expansion, which introduces two new maps and two new gameplay modules… or so BoardGameGeek tells me. I actually shared some thoughts on Concordia earlier this week in this convention write-up about the 6 new games I purchased, none of which was Concordia.

• Craig Massey: My group has had Concordia in regular rotation pretty much since it came out trying the large variety of maps in addition to Salsa. I don’t think that using Salt makes the game necessarily better, but makes it a bit different, enough so that we often use it, but it isn’t a must have. We love the variety of the different maps as well as how adding Salt can make all the maps play differently. We also tend to use the alternative board for the card market, which makes wine a bit more valuable. What we don’t use is the Forum tiles. Those are an unnecessary, random crapshoot and are best left in the box in any and all circumstances. 

• Larry: The only thing funnier than having people like Joe and me, who never play with expansions, participate in this effort is having Talia, who is incredibly out of step with the rest of the gaming world (and quite proud of it), describe these expansions she hates.  But I digress.  I think Concordia is a great game, so it doesn’t really need an expansion.  But I did play with Salsa once and I felt it made things a bit better.  I think it was because adding Salt, which is sort of a wild resource, made things a little more interesting.  Hardly essential, but I guess if you asked me which version of Concordia I wanted to play, I would say Salsa, so that made it worth a vote.

• RJ:  I’m right there with Larry.  I have Concordia rated on BGG as a “10,” but adding a bit of salt makes it better.  I like that the Forum throws a bit of randomness into the mix, and will always play with the expansion, whether I’m teaching new players or playing with gaming veterans.

1) Terraforming Mars: Prelude

Triumphantly emerging as the dominant favorite is Terraforming Mars: Prelude, which received an impressive 4 gold medals (Alison, Craig, Fraser, and Larry), plus 3 silver medal (Ben, Doug, and Jonathan), plus honorable mentions from Adam and Mark, which means it received votes from 9 of the 15 people voting, and it wiped the floor with the competition.  I think that Prelude’s position as a must-have expansion to use with the game elevated it as the expansion that the Opinionated Gamers would recommend above all others.

• Larry: This was the first expansion that came to mind when Talia asked us to vote and, honestly, is just about the only expansion that I’ll insist on using.  Terraforming Mars is a wonderful game, particularly if you use the drafting variant that’s part of the base rules (and if you don’t, you really should).  The only issue is it runs a little longer than is optimal.  Not enough to avoid it, by any means, but the start is a bit slow.  Prelude solves that perfectly:  the extra resources shorten the game, without it feeling the slightest bit hurried, and the decision of what cards to keep at the beginning is also very interesting.  It’s just about the only essential expansion I know of.  And the fact that it scored almost twice as many points in our voting as the second place finisher shows that I’m far from the only person who feels that way.

• Jonathan: This is important in a symbolic way. Too many engine builders have too long a ramp before they become fun. Yes, the turns might be short and painless, but they are also no fun.  Prelude shows how to juice an engine builder while giving you more of the good stuff per unit of time. 

• Mark: Larry & Jonathan are correct – the Prelude expansion adds really interesting choices at the beginning of the game that also put the game into motion quicker than the base design. That said — and noting that I did vote for it — I avoid adding it in when we’re teaching someone the game. It adds choices you aren’t fully prepared to make until you’ve seen how the game develops.

Closing Opinions

• Mark Jackson: First, let’s get this out of the way – I’m actually one of the writers at the OG who really likes expansions for games. (That’s not true for all of us.) Sometimes that can go horribly wrong (e.g., Anno 1503 – Piraten und Aristokraten; Terraforming Mars: Turmoil; Alien Artifacts: Breakthrough). Sometimes the expansions add interesting ideas but increase the mental overhead and/or playing time of a game too much (e.g. Boonlake: Artifacts; Sentinels of the Multiverse: OblivAeon; The Hobbit DBG: The Desolation of Smaug). 

And then there’s the good stuff. I voted for a number of expansions that didn’t make the top 20 list – some I’ve mentioned above but others would go unsung if I didn’t add them here. 

• I heartily recommend Return to Dark Tower: Covenant for more than just the very cool miniatures… the expansion adds a whole new layer of quests into the system that work like a charm. It’s our preferred way to play now.
• Zooloretto: Exotic takes the SdJ-winning base game and adds more ways to expand your park as well as mess over your opponents.
• Core Worlds: Galactic Orders turns a solid game into a great game with the addition of the Orders.
• For those of us who do a lot of solo playing, Undaunted: Reinforcements fleshes out both Undaunted: Normandy and Undaunted: North Africa with more content and a great solo system.
• Dungeon Lords: Festival Season is, well, “Dungeon Lord-ier”, It’s A Wonderful World: Ascension & Corruption adds not only more cards but greater creativity in scoring options, and Innovation: Echoes of the Past creates way more opportunities for clever plays.

Finally, I need to note that we basically glossed over game systems with large numbers of expansions here – since in many cases, those expansions do not change the underlying game but add variety and content. My #1 top 100 game is an excellent example (Memoir ‘44), as are Heroscape, Summoner Wars, and Sentinels of the Multiverse.

RJ: I am also not a huge fan of most expansions, especially if they change a game I already enjoy instead of adding to it.  And if you need to put out an expansion to “fix” a game, that just seems like poor planning/development on your part.  However, if you are giving me more maps (like Concordia) or more tracks for racing games (like Heat or DownForce) then I’m happy to dive in.  

Also, my other “10” rated game is Gloomhaven, so I was super happy with the puzzley nature of most of Forgotten Circles. A couple of the scenarios didn’t fly with me or my Gloomhaven partner, but most of the campaign was nicely developed and different than the main campaign Isaac had developed.

Do your favorite expansions appear on our list? 

If not, what are your favorites and why?